A pastor, a president, and a foreign political leader step into a National Prayer Breakfast. What happens next? A whole lot of mingling between church and state. This week, Dr. Lauren Turek joins Jonathan to explore how evangelicals have influenced American politics—domestically and abroad—over the last half century. It’s a story of televangelism, missionary trips, and politicking of biblical proportions.

Lauren Turek is an associate professor of history at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, where she teaches courses on modern United States history, U.S. foreign relations, and public history. She is the author of To Bring the Good News to All Nations: Evangelical Influence on Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Relations, published with Cornell University Press. Lauren is currently at work on a book about the Congressional debates and alliances that shaped U.S. foreign aid funding during the twentieth century and is co-editing a Routledge Handbook on the history of religion and politics in the United States.

You can follow Dr. Turek on Twitter @laurenfturek, on Instagram @laurenturek, and at laurenturek.com.

If you’re curious for more, Dr. Turek recommends the following:

Anthea Butler's White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America

Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Melani McAlister’s The Kingdom of God Has No Borders: A Global History of Evangelicals

Jeff Sharlet’s The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

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Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our associate producer is Zahra Crim. Our editor is Andrew Carson.

Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com.

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